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Dawn of Hardship: Unfolding Road
Part 1 , Barracks. Afternoon. It had been a week since the 13th Division’s encounter with the abnormally tough hollow, and despite the increased amount of paperwork on the Division’s hands, everything was back to normal for the most part. Having finished what little work he had left from the previous night, Kei headed outside of his quarters, making his way towards one of the many exits of the barracks. While he was walking, Kei’s mind began to fill with questions, the young couldn’t get the events of last week out of his head. “How could we have lost? Was it our lack of ability? Was it the abnormal strength? What are the higher ups gonna do about it?”, his head was spinning, a rare thing for Kei to experience, his loss in the had seemed to have had run him for a loop. As the 6th Seat let the questions in his head swirl, he accidentally walked into someone, knocking into their arm and unwittingly throwing both himself and the other person off balance. “Guh, what the-“, Kei paused as he snapped his head up to see who he walked into, only to find a familiar red of hair on the floor, looking angrily up at him. “Is that what I get for saying hi?!”, Chiyoko growled at her partner, in Kei’s stupor, he didn’t notice his comrade waving at him, carrying a small pile of files, all of which were now strewn across the pavement. “Uh, didn’t see you...”, Kei murmured, his half-arsed response caused the 5th seated officer to give out an annoyed sigh as she turned to pick up her papers. “Well you can help me pick up all of this, seeing as you knocked them all over the floor.”, Chiyoko replied, Kei, complying, bent down and started picking up the errant files on the floor, avoiding his partner’s gaze somewhat sheepishly. As they finished gathering Chiyoko’s files, the two Shinigami faced each other. “So, where were you going in such a rush?” Chiyoko asked, taking the papers that Kei gathered while the 6th Seat scratched his head before replying. “I was going to head over to the dojo, I’ve finished the work I had yesterday and I want to train.”, Kei said in a somewhat bashful manner, Chiyoko, though curious, decided to hold her tongue on what she wanted to say. “Well, just don’t knock anyone else over on your way there, okay?”, she said, giving Kei a small punch with her free arm, to which Kei shrugged off indifferently. “Mmhm, I’ll see you later Chiyoko.”, Kei said in a droll voice, walking off towards the dojo. “See you later.”, Chiyoko replied, waving at the Shinigami’s back, before lowering her hand, she wanted to know what was on Kei’s mind, despite acting like his usual, dismissive self, something seemed off, as if he was in deep thought about something. Chiyoko, despite her concerns, decided to move back to her quarters to finish off her work, giving one more look towards the direction Kei had left in. **** Seireitei, North Eastern Sector, Kuroryūmon Dojo. The sound of thudding and of wood reverberating throughout the entrance of the dojo entered Kei's ears as he approached one of the many training room doors inside the large building. The Kuroryūmon Dojo was one of 4'Gate Dojos', which instead of focusing on general fighting technique, put focus on only one aspect of the four fighting techniques of Zankensoki, with the Kuroryūmon Dojo's focus being that of Zanjutsu. Opening a door to one of the training rooms, Kei looked over the group that was accompanying the area. He didn't recognise most of the faces in the room, though he could tell that more than a fair number of the students present were from the 11th Division, their expressions of glee and excitement giving themselves away immediately to the young 6th Seat. As Kei examined the last of the students, he came across another excited face, though one not of the 11th Division ranks. "Ah Kei, yeh finally decided t'show up then!", the voice of the excited face Kei just noticed rang out through the dojo, it's owner being that of Ran Sugawara's, the 4th Seat jumped off her knees and walked, or hopped over to Kei, a smile on her face as she greeted her fellow seated officer. "I see you're still as, uh...enthusiastically excited as ever.", Kei replied, remembering the actions of the 4th Seat during their fight with the odd Básillian Hollow, how she had effectively saved him twice from being crushed by the Hollow's club-like fists. He cleared his throat after replying, not used to the manner of speaking he had just indulged in. "Heh, can't deny that, eh?", Ran exclaimed chuckling slightly, not taking notice of Kei's crude delivery of his comment, "Anyway, we're gonna start soon, you joinin' us?", she asked. "Yeah, if it's okay for me to join that is.", Kei said, looking at the instructor of the room, who nodded before opening his mouth. "That's fine, just need to ask your last name, since I already know your first from Sugawara-san here.", the Instructor said, giving a swift glance at Ran, a motion which Kei replicated before answering. "Hirata, Kei Hirata.", Kei stated, the Instructor nodded as he wrote Kei's name on a piece of paper on a table in the corner of the room before motioning Kei to sit down, which the 6th Seat followed quickly, kneeling down near to where Ran was. As the training started, Kei paired up with Ran as they practiced the basics and intermediate techniques of Kendo. As they did so a pair of 11th Division members paused in their practice to whisper something to each other, looking at the two 13th Division officers before returning to their practice, not noticing the Instructor's gaze resting on them. "All right, stop practicing, everyone start warming up for Randori.", the instructor exclaimed, causing the groups of Shinigami to cease their practice and start stretching as they returned to their mats, all of them wondering who would go first. "Right, so, who's up for the first practice match?", the Instructor said, his eyes scrolling across the line of Shinigami. Most of the 11th Squad members rose eagerly, as did both Ran and Kei, with some of the other members rising or staying seated, afraid of the possibilities of being matched with one of the Squad 11's. "Right, Akamaru and Sugawara. Since you two seem awfully reared to go, you guys can go first.", the Instructor stated, causing both Ran and the 11th Division member chosen to enthusiastically walk up to the main mats, both of them taking a Bokken as they positioned themselves to fight. "Introduce yourselves!", the Instructor shouted. "Zaraki Corps 8th Seat Ryu Akamaru.", the 11th Division Squad member growled, his grinning expression revealing a number of mission molars from what Kei had no doubt figured were from continuous fights or beatings, the 6th Seat scoffing at the thought. "13th Division 4th Seat, Ran Sugawara.", Ran stated confidently, her presence causing her opponent to momentarily falter, before regaining his composure. "Hajime!", the Instructor called out, beginning the match. As soon as the Instructor's words hit Ran's ears she immediately rushed towards her foe, poised to strike, while her foe reciprocated her actions, immediately coming in for a heavy strike towards the 4th Seat's shoulder blade. With the two combatants in attacking range, Ran swiftly raised her Bokken horizontally to intercept her opponent's the two wooden swords clashing and causing a resounding clank to ring out around the room, as soon as the swords connected, Ran broke from her lock and slid underneath Akamaru's Bokken, turning to face her opponent, the tip of her Bokken pointed squarely at the 8th Seat's back. "Ah, shit!", Ryu span on the ball of his right foot, wildly swinging his weapon in the vague direction of Ran, causing the 4th Seat to quickly jump backwards as to avoid being struck by the wayward blade. Landing a couple of feet away from her target, Ran once again proceeded to rush her opponent, this time catching the still recovering Akamaru off guard, however, despite his uneasy footing, the relentless Shinigami raised his Bokken in both hands in an attempt to end the fight in one powerful blow, swinging down as Ran neared him. However, instead of hitting the 4th Seat, the strike instead solidly hit the padded floor as Akamaru took notice of Ran athletically jumping over him, flipping her body so that it was facing her opponent when she landed. "Gotcha!", Ran shouted, her Bokken already slashing at the exposed side of her opponent while he was still trying to turn around to face Ran. The Bokken connected into the 11th Division member with a great deal of force, knocking the 8th Seat off his feet and out of the padded area, causing the instructor to step back into the arena. "And the match goes to 4th Seat Sugawara, a swift and decisive match, good work.", the Instructor gestured to Ran, who merely laughed heartily as she walked back towards her seat, while 8th Seat Akamaru stood up clutching his side. "Oh fuck off! I thought this was sword practice, not an acrobatics class!", he exclaimed, causing the instructor to turn around to face him. "This is a Zanjutsu class, you might want to remember that before showing a poor performance in swordplay, 8th Seat Akamaru.", the instructor stated sternly, shutting the 11th Division member up as he made his way back to his seat. The sparring continued for a time, with each fighter showing off the efforts of their training, or lack thereof. As they fought, Kei sat idly, hardly caring for what was happening in front of him, a few fights caught his eye but mostly it was curb stomp matches constantly with some poor bastard getting demolished because they either hadn't been practicing enough or they were too shit scared by the 11th Division they were facing down. While he sat there, he kept thinking back to how he himself performed in his fight with his teammates, thinking back to how he rushed in and nearly got himself killed, how his initial assaults were all too simple. He had to improve, however the answer to how to do so evaded Kei, he could try not rushing to fast into fights and taking a step back, despite his general disposition to try and finish something as fast as possible, however as for his attack patterns Kei was at a loss. As Kei mulled over his fighting style, the current battle had ended, with one of the 4th Division's lower seated members triumphing over an unseated 3rd Division member. "Okay! Hirata and Takenaka, you're up.", the Instructor stated, snapping Kei out of his thoughts as he was slapped on the back by Ran, who was sitting next to him. "Go make it a guddun, alright?", she said, her face beaming, Kei gave his companion a look of mild confusion as he turned and walked onto the mats, facing his opponent. "Now introduce yourselves!", he said, looking at both Kei and the Shinigami facing him across the room. "Kei Hirata, 13th Division 6th Seat.", Kei stated bluntly, he hardly found this ritual necessary, given that everyone had to spill their names when they entered the class and that rank should hardly matter. However, Kei went along with it, figuring that it would be more trouble than it would be worth it pointing out how ridiculous he thought the pleasantries were, plus, the young Shinigami was more concerned about his fight, and how he could get better and more effective in his swordplay. "8th Division's 5th Seat, Yoshi Takenaka.", Kei looked at his opponent, the man didn't look like much, average looking build, mild enough manner to him, however despite the outward appearance of the Shinigami, Kei could feel a sternness to him, as if everything that was shown to the world was finely controlled and made to look like something. As Kei sized up his opponent, Yoshi merely bowed respectfully, holding his Bokken out in front of him in a simple, solid stance, Kei, realising that he should get ready to fight, flipped around his Bokken, placing it to his side, as if he was sheathing it before placing his left hand on the hilt, bending down slightly, ready to attack. "Hajime!", the Instructor shouted out, commencing the battle. Kei burst forth with a great deal of speed, taking his opponent off guard slightly from seeing the 6th Seat's agility in action. In a matter of moments Kei was up right next to Yoshi's face, not hesitating to draw out his Bokken in an attempt to slash at the opponent Shinigami before they realised what was happening. However, instead of the sensation of wood hitting a body, instead Kei's attack was stopped dead in it's tracks, Kano having promptly parried Kei's initial attack, using his left arm to stabilise his Boken from the blow before allowing Kei's own Bokken to carry on it's path, sidestepping away so that the momentum would disrupt Kei's balance. Kei, unable to stop himself in time, utilised his free hand, hopping off the ground and propping himself on it, before swiftly returning to the ground in a kneeling position facing away from his opponent, something that was taken full advantage of. Kei sprung to the side, narrowly avoiding a jab from the 5th Seat and managing to spin around in time to intercept the subsequent slash that followed. Kei's eyes narrowed, keenly searching for an opening of any description, finding one in Yoshi's free arm. He pushed Yoshi's Bokken, freeing himself of any danger as he swung at the arm. Yoshi, aware that his defenceless arm was about to be metaphorically lopped off, practically threw himself down, just narrowly avoiding the splintered edge of the training sword and falling to his knees. Undeterred from his less than advantageous position, Yoshi grasped onto his Bokken's grip, delivering a stab at Kei's calf, causing the 6th Seat to hurriedly jump away, but not in enough time to avoid the attack, the wooden sword colliding with the side of Kei's leg. "Non-lethal hit! Continue without using wounded area.", the instructor yelled as Kei landed a fair few feet away, readjusting his 'injured' leg so as to make it unusable. Kei gritted his teeth, he knew he was fighting a 5th Seat, and that such an opponent wouldn't be a cakewalk, but this was frustrating. His opponent was playing with him, with those simple, swift maneuvers of his proving to be a pain in the arse to counter, and now all that Kei could do was stand there, effectively ruining his typical game plan. The 6th Seat's mind rushed to figure out a contingency, a way to come back, all the while keeping a close eye on his opponent's movements, ready to react at a moment's notice. Meanwhile, Yoshi edged closer and closer towards his now crippled foe, his eyes darting around, looking for the weak spot he needed, as he figured, Kei, now unable to move around, kept himself secure, keeping himself in a defensive pose that was hard to quickly get past. However despite this the 5th Seat's eyes shone briefly, having noticed a small, but viable means of attack. Kei braced himself as Yoshi shot into action, the 5th Seat leaping past Kei on his injured side, forcing the 6th Seat to swing himself around two hundred and seventy degrees to avoid both his new handicap and repel the attack waiting for him as he spun around, managing to just about block Yoshi's attack, but not without Kei skidding backwards due to the impetus of the strike, his good foot nearing close to the edge of the mat as he managed to grind to a halt. Not willing to keep any pressure off him Yoshi struck once again, raising his Bokken high before bringing it down upon Kei, certain that the unrelenting strike would succeeding in hitting it's mark, however, instead of hearing the satisfying clank signifying his sword hitting Kei's head, he felt his body get shunted to the side slightly as Kei's own Bokken struck Yoshi's arm. "What the!?", Yoshi spluttered out, seeing Kei firmly grasping onto his sword, chucking it to the side as Yoshi leapt backwards, allowing Kei himself to slowly make his way inside the ring again. "Non-lethal hit to Hirata-san's hand and to Takenaka-san's arm, resume battle.", the instructor called out. Both Kei and Yoshi obliged and left their respective areas limp and technically unusable. Kei kept himself focused on his opponent, he had finally figured out how he operated, relying on simple, but quick two handed attacks, with weak, one handed slashes interspersed. Now that he had managed to cut off his opponent's favoured style, now it was time to go forward with his plan, one that Kei himself found foolhardy, though at this point the 6th Seat figured it was his best chance at catching his opponent of guard. Yoshi, having taken his time away from combat as well, ran at Kei, who in turn began approaching Yoshi, albeit at a stunted pace, the two of them meeting in the centre of the arena, clashing their Bokken's together, however, Kei, instead of pushing, pulled back from the action, freeing himself and performing a trust at Yoshi, forcing the 5th Seat to dodge to the right in order to avoid the abrupt attack, only to be further pressured by a cavalcade of quick jabs, managing to push each one out of harms way. In spite of a seemingly failed assault, Kei reciprocated with a low slashing attack, his Bokken having been knocked down by Yoshi's last parry, the swift maneuver finally striking the 5th Seat in the abdominal area, just barely beating Yoshi's own counter attack that was aimed at Kei's neck. "The match goes to 5th Seat Hirata. A close one for sure, fraught with surprises as well, not what I would call a perfect duel but you both showed off the fruits of your training.", the instructor stated in a pleased manner. Yoshi, having finished returning his Bokken, approached Kei, who was in the process of returning his. "Good match.", Yoshi said, extending his hand out, waiting for Kei's response. "Hmm, yeah.", Kei replied, returning the gesture and shaking hands with the 5th Seat. Category:Stylx Category:Fanfiction